History of the Typewriter

—192— tight as to cause smears or markings on the underneath copies when carbon copies are being made. Means are provided for separating the feed roll from the platen, in order to permit of the insertion of several thicknesses of paper. The paper grips at once, and feeds in very squarely. There is no necessity for coaxing it in any way. Three widths of line space are provided for, and the platen is free to revolve forward or backwards, to permit of writing on ruled lines. There is a platen knob at each end, and as far as is reasonably possible, every provision has been made for the duplication of parts, so that either hand may be employed to perform any work which may fall to be done. The margin blocks work on the usual plan of sliding on racked bar, and can be fitted at any point desired. The return of the carriage brings it to a dead stop, and there is no rebound in any way. The marginal release key will permit of the margin being passed over, in order to finish long words or write outside the left margin. It automatically recovers itself on the carriage passing over the part to which the stop is set. The right hand margin stop also acts as a bell trip. There is a pointer to indicate the exact printed point, and two scales, although such are hardly necessary. The touch of the Monarch is exceedingly light, and the movement of the bar is very rapid, and the machine is also said to be a first-class manifolder. The Sun Typewriter. The illustration of the Sun will at once reveal the fact that it is a visible writing machine, and that there is a keyboard of twenty-eight keys, which, working by means of a curious double-action shift-key, governs eighty-four characters. The type-bars lie on their backs, and on depression of a key, fly upwards, and, entering a guide, strike the paper, after having taken the necessary supply of ink off a small ink roller, described further on. Immediately on pressure being taken off the key, the bar flies back to its place of rest, the last character written being as clear and visible as the first, and the first no better off than the last. If we examine the diagram of the type-bar, it will be seen that the whole movement is one of considerable novelty and ingenuity. The depression of the button causes the L-shaped lever to swing on its pivot, thus pulling the top of the arm towards the operator. This arm is connected to the type-bar by means of the connecting wire shown, and so pulls the lower spur of the type-bar also towards